CUNY represents the best value in U.S. higher education today. In an unforgiving economy where every dollar counts, the University’s cost of attendance is the exception to the sticker-shock tuition prevalent today. A CUNY education not only costs a fraction of what students pay at private institutions, but it beats most public universities, too, from New York to California. CUNY’s highly affordable tuition is stabilized by the CUNY Compact for Public Higher Education, a successful, long-term financing partnership between the University, the state and city governments, philanthropists, alumni and students. The Compact’s system of stable funding approved by the State of New York in 2011 keeps tuition low, strengthens financial aid coverage and allows for modest, predictable increases enabling families to plan.